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I had spent most of my adult life on a small island in the South seas, and now finally returned home, my mother really didn't know me, and so we had lots to talk about on my almost daily visits to see her and watch her favorite TV programs together, mainly sports, which after not really watching any TV for many years was a good way to pass the time. Three years passed very quickly then one day my mother decided that she had enough and passed away on September 11th 2019 at the age of 94. There were many things to take care of after her death and by the end of the year it was starting to look like I might not be going anywhere, the pandemic had started, and all flights were grounded. After that it was vaccinations, time was passing an no return in sight. To make matters worse my own health was a cause for concern, not knowing what was bothering me I finally booked into the Emergency rooms at the Royal Columbian Hospital complaining of ever worsening pains in my arms. The not so great thing about this part of Canada (West Coast) is that there is a shortage of doctors, you won't find one who will take you on as a patient and you are forced into rely on walk in clinics where you may or may not get the same doctor twice and have to explain your condition a new each time, to Doctors who seem always in a hurry. I had no idea what my problem was with my arms and neither did they although they should have guessed right away! When I finally wound up in the emergency, they took my blood pressure and gave me some pills and looked at me with some apprehension saying thay they were going to have to keep me in the hospital for observation, something I had not planned on and was not ready for, I didn't bring my toothbrush or extra socks even. The next day they told me that I had serious heart problems, something I never imagined, for some reason thinking that I was suffering instead of some arthritic problem like my mother had. After more tests the doctors announced that I will need immediate open heart surgery, this was a total shock to the system. not only was I not going back home soon, but I might not even survive the operating table. What they were planning was a quadruple bypass operation, if you dont know what this is you are lucky because if they ever tell you that you need it, you will spend a lot of time worrying about it and certainly go about getting your Will in order. But I will tell what it is anyway, they cut your body in half (rib cage) with a jig saw, stop your heart with a chemical concoction, thats right, they kill you on the table right then and there. Then plug you into a machine to keep your body functioning, while they cut veins out of your legs and splice them into your heart and lungs… really do you think thats going to work? and if it does? will your body ever heal and the bones fuse back together? I mean your rib cage will it heal, when you are 74? maybe… if you don't lift anything or fall down any stairs or strain yourself on the toilet, well I am being a little cynical, and statistically there is a good survival rate with these operations BUT I was very lucky that they told me on the first day that I needed it and and then did it a few days later, I didn't have time to think about what is going to happen and I didn't really know the details until it was over. In the normal situation they tell that you are going to need it and then you have to wait months for them to find an available operating room. Long story short, after this quadruple bypass you will be on medications for a couple years if not forever and physically handicapped. Only serious, healthy minded younger people make a nearly full recovery, by doing daily exercises, and eating the right foods. You kind of lose track of things after they kill you and years later you can't remember if it was one or two or three years ago that they did it. But I am getting sidetracked here because we were talking about the Bibliothéque. A few weeks after getting out of the hospital, half dead, I get an email from the Mairie of Tubuai saying that they want to get the upstairs room back to do a complete renovation on the building. and advising me to move everything to another location. |
| These are the last photos of the Bibliothéque, taken in August 2020. Some time after the workers of the Mairie removed everything from this room and stored most of the material in the Municipal equipement park. |
